Revised Draft EIR Southern California International Gateway (SCIG) Project - The Port of ...

Revised
  Draft
   EIR
  Public
 Meeting

                Southern California International
                    Gateway (SCIG) Project

JUNE 15, 2021
 5:00 pm PST

Public Meeting Instructions
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Public Meeting Instructions Continued

• Public comments will be limited to 3 minutes per
  speaker

• Comments should be limited to the Revised Draft
  EIR, comment period now extended through July 30,
  2021

• All comments received are being recorded and
  transcribed

• Spanish interpreter is available

• To listen to the meeting in Spanish, call 877-853-
  5257 or 888-475-4499 / Webinar ID: 951 1292 1684

Purpose of the Public Meeting

• Provide additional detailed information about two air
  quality issues, pursuant to a court order resolving a
  lawsuit under the California Environmental Quality
  Act (CEQA)

• Present key findings of the additional detailed air
  quality information

• Obtain public comments

PLEASE FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR
PROVIDING PUBLIC COMMENT IN THE CHAT

SCIG Project Overview

• SCIG is a new near-dock intermodal rail yard facility
  proposed by BNSF Railway

• Project location is an existing industrial site within
  four miles of the ports of Los Angeles and Long
  Beach, with direct access to the Alameda Rail
  Corridor

• SCIG will allow trucks to travel a short distance from
  the ports before transferring freight to rail cars, rather
  than traveling more than 20 miles to rail yards near
  downtown Los Angeles

Project Location Map

Environmental Review History

• Environmental documents:
    Notice of Preparation – October 2005
    Draft EIR – September 2011
    Recirculated Draft EIR – September 2012
    Final EIR – March 2013

• Public Outreach – 5 public meetings and various
  stakeholder engagement

• Board of Harbor Commissioners hearing on Final EIR
  certification – March 2013

• City Council hearing on CEQA Appeals – May 2013

Legal Challenge
• 7 lawsuits filed in June 2013
• Court of Appeal validated Final EIR except for
  requiring additional disclosures on two air quality
  issues:
    Frequency and duration of offsite ambient air
     pollutant threshold exceedances
    Cumulative offsite pollutant concentrations in
     combination with a proposal to expand the Union
     Pacific Railroad’s Intermodal Container Transfer
     Facility, or ICTF

Court Directive
• Revised Draft EIR provides these additional
  disclosures
• Rest of 2013 Final EIR remains valid
• These disclosures are highly technical in nature per
  the Court’s directive

Revised Draft EIR Approach

• Prior worst-case “composite emissions” scenario
  replaced with individual “Benchmark Year” scenarios:
  2016, 2020, 2023, 2030, 2035, 2046/2066

• Same modeling tools, assumptions, and data used to
  disclose year-specific emissions rather than a single
  composite emissions scenario

• Contour diagrams of maximum pollutant
  concentrations for each benchmark year and pollutant
  are presented for the project and alternatives, with and
  without mitigation

Revised Draft EIR Findings
The Project and Reduced Project would exceed thresholds for 1-
hour NO2 and 24-hour PM10 in all benchmark years
Annual NO2, annual PM10, and 24-hour PM2.5 would exceed
thresholds in some or most years

                                                                                     Reduced Project
  Pollutant                   Project (with Mitigation)          No Project
                                                                                     (with Mitigation)

  1-hour NO2 (federal and
                            All Benchmark Years           All Benchmark Years   All Benchmark Years
  state)

  Annual NO2                2016, 2035, 2046/2066         None                  2016, 2046/2066

  24-hour PM10              All Benchmark Years           2035, 2046/2066       All Benchmark Years

                            2020, 2023, 2030, 2035,                             2020, 2023, 2030, 2035,
  Annual PM10                                             2035, 2046/2066
                            2046/2066                                           2046/2066

  24-hour PM2.5             2016, 2020, 2023              None                  2016, 2020, 2023

Revised Draft EIR Findings

Significant ambient air pollutant concentrations would
occur primarily in industrial areas near the SCIG facility, but
in some cases would affect sensitive receptors in
residential areas:
• Project and Reduced Project: 1-hour NO2 impacts would
   affect sensitive receptors in West Long Beach and
   Wilmington in 2016, 2020 and 2023, and a small area of
   West Long Beach from 2023-2066
• No Project: 1-hour NO2 impacts would extend over large
   areas of Long Beach and Wilmington: in 2016, impacts
   would extend almost to Cherry Avenue in Long Beach
   and include much of Wilmington as far west as I-110

Revised Draft EIR Findings
Project 2016 Federal 1-Hr NO2   No Project 2016 1-Hr Federal NO2

Revised Draft EIR Findings

(Continued) Significant ambient air pollutant concentrations
would occur primarily in industrial areas near the SCIG
facility, but in some cases would affect sensitive receptors
in residential areas:
• Project: Annual PM10 impacts would affect a few
   sensitive receptors along the western edge of West Long
   Beach in 2035-2066; mitigation would avoid impacts to
   these receptors
• No Project: Annual PM10 impacts would affect residential
   areas along I-710 north of the Project site in 2035-2066

Revised Draft EIR Findings
Project 2046 Annual PM10   No Project 2046 Annual PM10

Revised Draft EIR Findings
Cumulative offsite pollutant concentrations of the Project,
when combined with the ICTF project, would exceed the 1-
hour federal NO2 threshold but not PM and state NO2
thresholds
• Cumulative overlap of the two projects’ significant federal 1-
  hour NO2 impacts would mostly occur in industrial areas but
  also, in later years, in a small area at Willow Street and the TI
  Freeway that could affect one sensitive receptor
• Less than significant project federal 1-hour NO2 impacts could
  combine to produce significant cumulative impacts in some
  areas outside, but near, the western edge of West Long Beach
• The areas of exceedance of PM and state NO2 thresholds by
  the two projects were widely separated and therefore, not likely
  to result in significant cumulative impacts when combined

Public Comments

•   Verbal Comments

•   E-mail - send to: ceqacomments@portla.org

•   Mail - Submit comment card or letter by mail to the
    address on the next slide

•   Limit comments to Revised Draft EIR contents

•   LAHD will respond only to comments on the
    additional information contained in Revised Draft
    EIR

Written Public Comments

                 Christopher Cannon
       Director of Environmental Management
           Los Angeles Harbor Department
            425 South Palos Verdes Street
             San Pedro, California 90731

          Review started on May 19, 2021

45-day comment period has been extended by 3 weeks

COMMENTS WILL NOW BE RECEIVED THROUGH
             JULY 30, 2021

Public Comment Procedures
 If you have joined online and wish to submit a written comment, please
  click the Q&A button ( ). Type your first and last name, then submit your
  written comment.
 If you prefer to speak, press the “Raise Hand” button to provide verbal
  comments (        ).
     • Once your name is called, it will be stated that you have been
       unmuted to speak.
     • Please state your first and last name clearly and spell your name for
       the Court Reporter.
     • Once you are done speaking, click the button labeled “Lower Hand."
 If you have joined by dialing in and wish to speak, please raise your hand
  by pressing *9.
     • Once it is your turn to speak, you will hear the prompt “you have been
       unmuted.” Please unmute yourself by pressing *6, then state your first
       and last name, and spell your name for the court reporter.
     • To lower your hand when you are done speaking, press *9 again.
     Speakers will be given 3 minutes to speak
     Spanish interpreter is available